Community and health advocates gathered at the University of Charleston today to protest the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to do away with carbon pollution regulations. While the EPA’s first and so far only public hearings took place to collect comments about the proposed repeal in the capitol building, another press conference and panel discussion took place across town.

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Speakers, made up of Appalachian community leaders, elected officials, faith leaders and public health experts call the Clean Power Plan “lifesaving” and asked attendees to pressure legislators to not only maintain the law, but strengthen it.

“Very few people understand that climate change will affect them personally,” said Mona Sarfarty, executive director of The Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health.

“Less than a third of people think that it has anything to do with them personally and the reality is that many more people are already impacted than they realize. So we are all at risk, we are all in this together and we all need to do something about it.”

Sarfarty said that the Clean Power Plan reduces the amount of pollution in the air, which she said directly impacts asthma and lung problems.

“That includes children who spend more time outside, pregnant women who are more vulnerable to air pollution. It includes people who have any kind of lung and heart disease and it includes the elderly who are more vulnerable and people who are of lower income and may not be able to live in an area that is as healthful as they would like to.”

Critics of the Clean Power Plan say it unfairly targets coal-fired power plants and that the regulations cause higher energy bills, slowing economic growth.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Marshall Health, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.

The Trump administration announced Thursday it will hold a public hearing in West Virginia on its plan to nullify an Obama-era plan to limit planet-warming carbon emissions. The state is economically dependent on coal mining.

The Environmental Protection Agency will take comments on its proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan in Charleston, the state capital, on Nov. 28 and 29.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito led a Senate hearing in southern West Virginia today focused on the local impacts of the Clean Power Plan. The Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee meeting took place at Chief Logan Conference Center in southern West Virginia. Capito is the subcommittee chairwoman. She was joined by Sen. Joe Manchin and U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins.

The meeting addressed regulations stalled in court that put limits on each state’s carbon output. Many West Virginia officials oppose them because the regulations increase stress on the coal industry.

Coal country’s economic woes took center stage at the Environmental Protection Agency as President Donald Trump signed an executive order to undo parts of President Barack Obama’s environmental legacy.